Slidable hanger.



G. W. MEARS.

SLIDABLE HANGER.

APPLICATION FILED MAY 13. 1914.

W/ TNESSES:

Arm/wins UNITED sTATEs Specification of Letters Patent.

Patented Mar. 12, 1918.

Application led May 13, 1914. Serial No. 838,191.

To all 'whom it may concern:

Be it known that I, GEORGE W. MEA'Rs, a

v citizen of the United States, and a. resident referred to.

of Brooklyn, Kings county, State of New York, have invented an improvement. 1n Slidable Hangers, of which the followlng description, in connection with the accompanying drawings, is a specification, like gures on the drawings representing like parts.

The present invention relates to slidable hangers, the object being to improve and simplify the same.

I show a door hanger illustrating one embodiment of my invention in the accompanying drawings, in which, fY

Figure 1 is a front elevation of a door hanger of the ball bearing type showing the same iXed to the wall of a building, and sup porting a sliding door in closed position;

Fig. 2 is a view partly in vertical longitudinal section of the door hanger proper;

Fig. 3 is a vertical cross section on the dotted line 3 3, Fig. 2;

Fig. 4 is a perspective detail of an end portion of the spacer, and,

Fig. 5 is a perspective detail showing tracks formed from separate strips of metal.`

As indicated in Fig. 1, the door hanger illustrating an embodiment of my invention is aiixed to the wall of a building, commonly to a horizontal member of the frame thereof, as a girder 1. The door 2 operating in connection with the said hanger is secured in a suitable manner tov a carriage member 3 so as to depend therefrom. According to Figs. 2 and 3, said carriage member is provided at its sides with suitable, preferably channeled race-ways or bearings 4 to receive antifriction balls 5 which travel in suitable ways or tracks 6, shown in the present instance as channels formed in the depending sides 7 of an inverted U-shaped housing 8 attached directly to the girder 1 referred to. The said housing may conveniently. be formed from a single strip of metal with rounded upper corners 9 connecting a flat top portion 10 with the depending sides 7 The hanger'may readily be fastened directly to the girder 1 by means of suitably spaced bolts 36 passing through said top portion and secured by means of nuts 37. In forming the channeled tracks 6, I have iiattened the outermost portions 38 or those which join the obliquely disposed *elements of said tracks, to give greater strength thereto than is possible where the said elements connect at a more or less acute angle.

Although the tracks 6 are here shown as preferably embodied in a U-shaped housing, I have illustrated in Fig. 5 another form in which the depending sides are formed from separate strips 11 with suitable channels or tracks 12 upon which the antifriction balls may travel in the same manner as that described in connection with the U- shaped `form of housing and channeled tracks. Where the depending sides are formed of separate strips, they may conveniently be spaced and suspended by means of connecting members 42 having suitable means, as the bolts 36 and nuts 37, for attachment to a fixed part of the building in which the slidable door is to be mounted.

To maintain the balls 5 properly spaced, I have provided a spacer 13, shown as and preferably U-shaped in cross-section and arranged in inverted position similar-to the arrangement of the housing 8. This spacer is provided alon its depending side members with rows of properly spaced openings 14 for the several balls. To better retain said balls in said openings, I have provided at either side of each opening, a pair of concaved lips l5 and 16, Fig. 4, which embrace the respective balls and provide suitable bearings and positioning surfaces therefor. Said retaining lips are preferably cupped orconcaved as shown to embrace or encompass, more or less, the balls held between them, whereby the said balls are prevented from accidentally dropping out of position when not otherwise held in their proper race-ways or tracks.

In opera-tion, the door 2 suspended from the carriage member 3 may be moved back and forth on the tracks at any desired speed. Whatever the speed of the carriage member may be, the spacer 13 travels in the samev each ball will preferably be horizontal and member.

directionl but at substantially one-half that speed. It has been found in practice. that, owing to friction and lack of uniformity in pressure at the various points of contact between the balls and their respective tracks, the traveling members are likely to slip relative to one another, Apermitting the door susillustrated, to contact with their respectivey bearings in such a manner that the line joining the two upper points of contact on parallel with the corresponding line joining lthe two lower pointspof contact. This relative positioning of the balls with respect to their bearings is conveniently obtained by disposing the surfaces 17, 18 and 19, 20, forming the bearings of the tracks, toward eacn other at the. same angle as the surfaces 21, 22 and 23, 24 respectively, forming the bearings in the carriage'member 3 (F ig. 3).

Notwithstanding that the balls be arranged as hereinabove described, should the carriage member still outrun the spacerowing to careless operation o1' to derangement of the parts-I have disclosed a spacer having its end formed as by closing it to present a stop surface, a suitable form being shown at 39, Fig. 4, so that it may again be made to register properly with the carriage y Thus when the door is moved in the return direction, as indicated by the arrow -in Eig. 2, if the spacer 13 has lost its proper relative position with respect to the carriage 3 because the former has traveled at less than its intended speed, the said carriage will contact with the stop surface 39 of the spacer, thus carrying the latter to an eXtreme end position, as shown in Fig. l, thereby properly positioning'both members in readiness for the next movement of th door in the opposite direction. If the spacer is made, as heretofore generally the custom, of a length equal only to the width of the door, since said spacer travels but one-half the distance the door travels, when the latter reaches the end of its course, its forward end will be found to have outrun the adjacent end of the spacer and to project forward without support. This soon allows the door to sagV at its said forward end and to lose its alinement with all the attendant difficulties. To obviate this, I have made the length of the spacer 13 greater than the width of the door 2, as

shown in Fig. l, the spacer there being indicated in dotted lines, so that when the door is moved to its closed position, the forward end of its supporting carriage will engage and receive support from the additional balls carried by the spacer extension hereinabove referred to.

With this construction, however, it is clear that a substantial portion of the spacer with .the balls carried thereby will overhang the carriage 3 when the door is in its extreme positions. If the door be at the right, as in Fig." l, the spacer overhangs at the left and if thedoor be at the left the spacer overhangs at the right. vIn the construction just described, it will be obvious that the balls positioned at the Aends of the spacer must be provided with means to retain them in posil. tion inasmuch as they are thus at times deprived of the support of the bearing surfaces of the carrlage member. To accomplish this, I have not only provided a plurality of ball retaining lips 15 and 16 in the spacer, cupped as described, but I have also constructed the spacer in such manner as to cause its walls thereby to press the balls firmly against the tracks 6 so that when the carriage member is in such position that the balls receive support from one of the raceways only, said balls will still be pushed into irm contact with the other race-ways, thus preventin looseness and rattle. This pressing of the alls always into contact with the outer interior bearings permits each succeeding ball without unnecessary noise and impact, to pass from one track to the next, the balls being maintained constantly in proper position. This result may conveniently be effected by spacing the free edges of the depending sides slightly farther apart than their respective upper connected edges so that in assembling the device, the sides of the spacer may be sprung to permit its being properly positioned between the depending sides of thehOuSing. Thus the balls carried by the spacer will be pressed into irm contact with the tracks and be held constantly in proper position.

Door hangers of the construction described and illustrated herein as embodying one form of my invention have distinct advantages over the older forms, among which may be pointed out the superior strength of the inverted U-shaped housing, particularly over the type in which the upper corners are angular. It will be obvious that by joining the flat upper portion of the housing to the depending sides with a swinging curved corner, the strength of the material will be better conserved than where the corner is angular. This would be particularly true where the housing is stamped from a single piece of metal.. Similar conservation of strength is effected in the track members byv forming the outermost portions of the channels or outer race-ways with a minimum lateral displacement of material. It will be understood that such a construction is better adapted to withstand the outward and downward thrust of the balls than would be a bearing having relatively wider bearing surfaces and relatively sharper angles joining the same.

It has been pointed out that the tracks or depending side members ma be connected by a fiat top portionthe pre erred form being shown 1n Fig. 2 of the drawlngs. When thus constructed, the flat top serves both as a protective covering for the bearings underneath and as a means whereby the tracks may be attached directly to a girder, as illustrated. The continuous flat top forms with the tracks a housing which effectively prevents dust and other obstructions from lodging in the ball race-ways or other working parts of the hanger. Moreover, the flat top or crown piece, having a substantial Width, may be bolted directly to a girder thus securing the hanger against lateral tilting. In a similar manner, the tracks, as shown in Fig. 5, may be suspended from a girder by means of flat connecting top pieces conveniently spaced along the said tracks for the purpose of holding them in proper alinement as well as for securing Athem to a girder or other suitable part of a building.

A further improvement in slidable hang- -ers of the ball bearing type is illustrated in Fig. 2, the object being to still further promote smooth runnin and noiselessness of operation. As pointe out heretofore, it has been found desirable to have the balls and their respective bearings fit snugly. Attention has also been called to the relative speeds of the carriage member 3 and the spacer 13 carrying the balls 5, it being noted that the balls and the spacer advance at one-half the speed of the carriage member so that the advancing end of the latter, in its travel, will pass from one ball to the next, performing this operation as many times as there are balls mounted in the overhanging end of the spacer. Inasmuch as the carriage member carries the load, it is contemplated thatv the advancing end may be found to sag or to tilt, in which case the forward edges of the bearing surfaces in the carriage member might strike the surface of the ball at an improper angle thus hindering smoothness of running. To obviate such a di'liculty, should it arise, I flare the ends of the bearing surfaces of the carriage slightly so as to form tapering approaches as 53, it being obvious that if material is cut away at these ends, the cross sectional area of the opening of the raceway will be larger than that of the raceway at parts relatively away from the ends. Thus, as the end of the carriage member advances, instead of striking each succeeding ball in the manner heretofore described, it will engage the same gradually 'by means of the tapered opening.

`lVVhile the hanger herein described and illustrated is of the kind adapted to be used with slidinr doors, its 'use is not thus restricted, it eing obvious that the invention may be applied t0 han ers designed for other purposes such as sli able clothes racks, slidable windows, and the like.

I claim as my invention;

1. The combination of a track member and a carriage member slidable relatively there# to, said members having opposed ball receiving grooves, balls in said grooves coperating with said members in supporting one by means of the other while permitting travel of one relatively to the other, a ball retaining member having a yielding ball carrying portion between said members, said portion having means for engaging the balls at one side of their axes and means to press said portion, and thereby said balls, laterally toward and against the member adjacent to the other side of said aXes in order to hold the balls normally in contact with the ball receiving groove and prevent injurious rattling of the balls upon the bearing surfaces of said groove.

2. The combination of track members and a carriage member slidable relatively thereto, opposed ball receiving grooves in said members, balls in said opposed grooves, cooperating with said members to support one by means of the other while permitting travel of one relatively to the other, a ball retainin member having a yielding ball carrying portion between the carriage member and each of the track members, said portions having means for engaging the balls at one side of their diameters, and means to press each of said ball carrying portions, and thereby said balls, laterally toward the track member adjacent thereto to hold the balls normally in contact with the ball receiving grooves in both track members thereby to prevent injurious rattling of the balls upon the bearing surfaces of said grooves.

3. The combination of track members and a carriage member slidable relatively thereto, opposed ball receiving grooves in said members, balls in said opposed grooves, cooperating with said members to support one by means of the other while permitting travel of one relatively to the other, a ball retaining member having a. yielding ball carrying portion between the carriage member and each of the track members, each of said portions having means for engaging the balls at one side of their diameters, whereby said balls may be pressed laterally toward the track member adjacent thereto and held thereby normally in contact with the ball receiving grooves in both track members thereby to prevent injurious rattling of the balls upon the bearing surfaces of said grooves.

4. The combination of track members and a carriage member slidable relatively thereto, opposed ball receiving grooves in said members, balls in said o posed grooves, cooperating with said mem ers to support one by means of the other while permittin travel of one relatively tothe other, a bal retaining member having a yielding ball carrying portion between the carriage member and each of the track members, each of said portions having means for engaging the balls at one side of their diameters, and means at the end of said ball retaining member and interposed in the path of the carriage member to retain the ends of the yieldin ball carrying portions in suitable spaced rettion whereby the balls may be pressed laterally toward the track member adjacent thereto and held normally in contact with the ball receiving grooves in both track members to prevent injurious rattling of the balls upon the bearing surfaces of said grooves.

5. In a slidable hanger, the combination of a cross-sectionally U-shaped housing having a longitudinal channel in each side, a carriage member arranged between said. channels and having inwardly converging bearing surfaces, disposed at substantially the same angle as the bearin surfaces of the longitudinal channels, ba s interposed between the said channels and the said carriage member, and a spacer longer than the width of the door and having apertures for receiving said balls, said apertures being flanked with retaining lips to hold the balls in position. 6. In a slidable hanger, the combination of a cross-sectionally U-shaped housing having a longitudinal channel in each side,a carriage member arranged between said channels and having bearin surfaces coperating with the bearing sur aces of the longitudinal channels, balls interposed between the said channels and vthe said carriage member, and a spacer having means for holding the balls to press the same against said longitudinal channels, and spring mwardly to maintain the balls in firm contact with the bearing surfaces of the carriage member.

7. In a slidable hanger, the combination` said apertures being provided with means' for holding the balls in position.

8. In a slidable hanger, the combination of a housing having a longitudinal channel in each side, a carriage member arranged between said channels and having bearing surfaces coperatin with the bearing surfaces of the longitudinal channels, balls interposed between the said channels and the said carriage member, and a spacer closed at one end and having means for holding the balls, whereby the carriage member in its run in one direction contacts with the closed end of the spacer and propels the spacer and thereby compensates for any lost motion of the spacer.

9. In av slidable hanger, the combination of a pair of spaced members provided with longitudinal channels, means connecting said members to each other and to a support, a carriage arranged between said members and having inwardly converging bearing surfaces disposed at substantiall the same angle as the bearing surfaces ofy the longitudinal channels, balls` interposed between the said members and the said carriage, and a spacer having a ertures for receiving said balls and adapte to resiliently press said balls into said channels, said apertures being flanked with retaining lips to hold the balls in position.

10. vIn a slidable hanger, the combination of a pair of spaced members provided with longitudinal channels, means for connecting and supporting said members, a carriage arranged between said members and having bearing surfaces coperating with the bearing surfaces of the longitudinal channels, balls interposed between the said members and the said carriage and a spacer having means for holding the balls to press the same against said longitudinal channels, and resiliently tending to spring outwardly to maintain the balls in firm contact with the bearing surfaces of said channels.

11. In av slidable hanger, the combination of a pair of members provided with channels having bearings'urfaces, means for supporting the members in spaced relation, a carriage arranged between said channels and having bearing surfaces coperating with the bearing surfaces of the channels, balls interposed between the members and the carriage, and a spacer having apertures for receiving said balls and adapted to resiliently press said balls into said channels, said apertures being provided with means for holding the balls in position.

12. In a slidable hanger, the combination of a housing having a longitudinal channel in each side, a carriage member arranged between said channels and having bearing surfaces coperating with the bearing surfaces of the longitudinal channels, balls interposed between the said channels and the said In testimony whereof, I have signed my l@ carriage member, and a spacer closed at one name to this specification, in the presenceof end and' adapted to resiliently press said two subscribing witnesses, this 8th day of allsh ilo saig clblallnelshandb havl'ling means May, 1914.

5 0r o in te aswereytecarriae member il? its run one direction colglv GEO W MEARS" tacts with the closed end of the spacer and Witnesses: propels the spacer and thereby compensates MANUEL Wmm Monn,

or any 10st motion of the spacer. JOHN W. THOMPSON. 

